Scotland Women’s Under-16s head coach Paul Brownlie was pleased with the effort of his side in their recent UEFA International Development Tournament, which saw the squad head to Portugal for a trio of tough fixtures.

Despite emerging from the tournament without a victory, a valiant effort saw Scotland come within a minute of a famous triumph over the Netherlands before eventually losing on penalties.

Brownlie’s side were also ultimately overpowered by Portugal and Germany, yet the Scotland head coach saw enough from his side to be enthusiastic about their potential.

"The fact that our girls are getting to play against this level of opposition is testament to how far our game has come in the last couple of years,” he said.

"It's a sign of our progress as a team and as a nation that we're able to compete against these teams, some of the biggest footballing nations in Europe, and be able to have a go at them.

"We were within one minute of beating the Netherlands too, which was such an impressive performance from the girls. They really took to the game-plan and the style of play that Shelley [Kerr] is trying to implement across the women's game.

"It's great experience for everyone in the squad. Each of the 20 players in the squad got 80 minutes across the 3 games. It was a physically demanding schedule for us, but I thought that we dealt with that very well.

"The vast majority of our squad are just 15, so they'll have another year at this age group. The experience will stand them in really good stead going forward."